Summer is the time of year that most people cannot wait for. The sun comes back, activities are planned, and we are all annoyed by that tune "Turkey in the Staw" from the ice cream vendors. For me, summer is 'tail season.' It is the time of the year where I make a new tail or head out with the one under my arm and get some great photos at the coast or the local pool.
Thus far, neither has really happened.
Sure, I got a few pictures at the pool during a maiden voyage and some around my neighborhood in "dry shots," but good photos? Quality videos? Nothing. Part of that is due to a recent financial situation in which my hard-to-get-into college decided to screw over three of their graduate students, myself included. This has stalled my ability to spend a nice weekend or three days at the coast with my fiancé taking mermaid photos. Thus, the photos of a mermaid at the park on the swings or laying in her hammock in the back yard are the only ones I have to show for my new tail.
There has always been one place I could not wait to go in the summer; other than the coast and the Oregon Country Fair. The local community center pool. Not only did they not mind if I used my monofin there, but the mermaid tail was a-okay as well. Perfect right? No. Not in the summertime.
Before I go on to rant about my dislike of their summer policies, let me point out that I do understand them. I understand that they have jobs to do, that there are children to teach to swim (some of which will be the future mermaids), but how they handled themselves and pushed around the rest of us to get that done I did not like.
To begin with, not only are the hours for simple lap swim all screwed up, with large gaps and little actual swim time between them, but lap swimmers are treated like cattle. We are pushed around by the pool facility, made to change lanes repeatedly, our swimming groove thrown off constantly, and get crammed into two lanes so the other half of the lap pool AND the entire leisure pool can be devoted to swim lessons. Just yesterday, it was six swimmers in just -one- lap lane. All the swimmers knew how to do the circular swimming, but we were all different abilities and speeds. Mr. Brown might be a fast swimmer who focuses just on crawl-stroke, while old Mrs. Plumb can only do breast stroke that is so slow a snail could surf past her. Can we complain? Of course, but will anything be done? Nope.
"We are just so crowded at these hours," a woman who worked there told me. "We have other hours. Perhaps you could come then? Or even during open play swim."
She expected me to come back at another time to swim? To LAP swim during open play swim? I am not talking about swimming with the tail here; I am talking pure monofin lap swimming to help rebuild my skills to use with the tail. Sure, I can see that going well. Swimming through swarms of children who are racing and jumping off the sides of the pool like nobody's business. And as for another time? It would not fit into my schedule. That being said, it is still my problem that I could not get a decent workout in the pool that day. Sadly, I do not wish to go back to that pool until school starts up again. All my workouts will have to be confined to the other part of the community center: their gym.
What further aggravates me is that I have seen signs posted around the locker rooms and pool area stating that "Prolonged Underwater Swimming Prohibited." Just how long is "prolonged?" Does that mean if a child dives to the bottom of the pool they will have the lifeguard whistle blown at them? What about speed swimmers who take off underwater first before going into their stroke? Not to mention, what does that mean for tail swimming? During the video taping of the maiden voyage of my spotted tail, We heard nothing from anyone about the time I spent swimming underwater. No one came over to tell us we were doing wrong, we needed to stop, or anything. It just aggravated me that I see all these signs, that there is no explanation, and that no reason why will ever be given.
I almost wonder if it had to do with the training I saw happen one day. The head lifeguard put a child-dummy in the water that sank. From there, they timed how long it took for the lifeguards to see and react to it.... the dummy was underwater a good 20-30 minutes before anything was done. Does this mean that because of some lifeguards who needed better training BEFORE they started working at the pool, the people who want to swim underwater cannot anymore? That makes total sense (heavy sarcasm) and I know I feel safe swimming there.
With September approaching, I know the pool will clear and I can get some monofin and mermaid swimming done here soon. It also means the beaches will start to clear, but also that the beaches will start to get cold. I may be restricted to more dry shots of my mer-sona doing things around the towns at the coast and less at the water line. Time to do these things will also become restricted with school, practicum internships, and research work for classes. If I get even one good shot of Merlissa the Mermaid sitting outside of the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum on the coast, I will count myself lucky.
) then hide her face in her father's neck. Here is how our little conversation went.
) She talked to me about the tail for a while, asking the top five questions:
